Out of Pod Experience

Rank the following in order of importance, highest to lowest:

Self, Family, Local Community, Nation, Human Race

Humankind tied with Self, Family right after, FRIENDS in-between, Locals tied with Nation somewhere far below priority-wise

"Self" is kind of included in the human race, so if the human race goes... under NORMAL circumstances nothing else really matters all that much anymore. On the other hand, between destroying the human race with me being able to live forever or sacrificing myself to ensure the human race would live forever... oooh, tough choice.
Family is the next logical step, one with the most ties afterwards.
Friends are somewhat of an extended family.
Locals and Nation, don't really give that much of a damn, would put friends far above either regardless of location/race/nation of those friends.

I bet I wouldn't be a very popular politician if I was honest about this, eh ?

1. Self - Pretty obvious, since it's a requirement for all the rest to have any meaning. Besides if you don't value yourself to some degree, you're not good for the family, pretty useless to the nation and local community and you propably don't value other humans highly either. Naturally this personal viewpoint influences my whole list.

2. Family - Family sticks together and supports each other through life. Doesn't mean I approve of everything they do, but I'll be there for them when they need me even when I disagree with them. I'll try to get them to correct their path though, if I see them going down the wrong road.

3. Nation - Ultimately the only thing protecting your people, your way of life and your culture. People can disagree with me on this, but we are a small nation of little over 5 mil people and we remember WW2 and the aftermath. Some people who didn't have a nation to protect them aren't around anymore. The jews are the first thing most people think when they think about people who got majorly shafted, but they managed to survive and had learned the importance of having a nation to protect them. Others weren't so lucky and aren't around anymore.

4. Local community - Important as it handles many daily activities and social interactions, but that's mainly all it does. A necessity, but of secondary importance in many cases. It doesn't do things you couldn't get done by other actors/groups.

5. Human race - Naturally it's important, but every member of the human race tends to belong to all of the other groups too these days. Basicly it means, that mostly it's not an important consideration, since they have themselves, their families, communities and nations to take care of themselves. When all those fail, we can cover their failings until they get a handle on things again, but primarily it's their responsibility to take care of themselves.

There are some things, that are actually good and even necessary to handle at this level though, so I wouldn't dismiss it's importance. It's just that when considering what's important and necessary to life, there are loads of more immediate things that need doing before you have the luxury of considering the human race as a whole. I think we are at that point now though, but if the other groups don't work, any considerations of the human race as a whole is the least of your worries.

There is no such thing like "Human race".

1.Self,
2.Family
3.Nation
4.My race
5.Rest of the races.

Ordered by amount of identity I share with those groups.

It's interesting that so many people put "self" above everything else. In Roman times, a good person was seen as having the attribute of being "pious". For example, Aeneas is described quite often as "pious Aeneas". To the Romans, the word "pious" was taken to mean a person who values one's gods, nation, family, and self in that order.

Heroic figures are often described as being "selfless", and, as such, are willing to place their life on the line for the wellbeing of those around them.

If you said that you value yourself more than your family, consider the following: Let's say you're in a situation with one of your family members such that one of you must die and the other survive, and you are the one who must make this decision. Do you really mean to say that you would allow your family member to perish?

If you said that you value yourself more than your nation, consider this: Imagine that a man approached you who claimed to be a member of a terrorist organization. He is willing to give you 500 million dollars, in cash, on the spot, in return for information that you have. Giving him the information will ultimately help him, in a rather small way, to dismantle your currently established government and replace it with a new one. There is absolutely no chance that you will be linked with the terrorist organization after the transaction. Even if the gain to you is rather large and the loss to your nation is somewhat small, would you still place your own wellbeing above that of your nation?

I could go on with other examples, but I think I've made my point. Are human beings really that self centered? Is it foolish to hope that our society can achieve more if we worked for the common good of those around us?

Family
Human Race
Local Community
Nation
Self

Yes yes, I'm doing it wrong. pffft

Speaking of self-centered, why are you only able to see "Self" in such a negative fashion?

At a minimum, we can take a very pragmatic existential view in that without *me*, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

More importantly, without a sense of Self, I wouldn't be able to rank the list of items. Without a sense of "Self", I wouldn't be able to commit a selfless act because a person that puts Nation above Self would just be an automaton that lives only to serve a Fascist State, a slave in a caste system, a religious zealot performing actions because someone else tells them to, and not because those actions are the Right Thing To Do. A person without Self is unable to say "No! That. Is. Wrong. And I will not let it stand!" Without a sense of Self, a person cannot stand up to societal peer pressure. History has show how Evil can be institutionalized. Hell, we still have slavery today.

Selfless acts cannot be selfless unless you deliberately choose to risk the loss of your Self, thus implying that Self has tremendous value to one's self.


tl;dr Context is everything.

All are important equally. Without self there would be no qualitative race except what would be established by outisde observers.

Compare this to the body. The body as a whole is the human race. The varying levels between self and human race are the various structures that make up the body, with the self being each individual cell.

Self

I won't add to the discussion of what it means to be selfless. I am honestly selfish, and would happily sacrifice every one of your lives if it meant even a small net benefit to me. I have no guarantee of my life's continuing value outside of my own mind (not psychic, not religious), so its preservation simply has to be my highest priority.

Family

Interpreted to mean chosen, recognized family regardless of blood ties... I would value this right below self. I think the social ties you choose to recognize are an extension of yourself. So, if I honestly call you family it means that I value you and see our relationship as essential to my security, identity and worth. I would only sacrifice you to save my own life or the lives of other family I value more highly.

Local Community, Nation

Anything beyond myself and my family is just too abstract for me to consider rationally. In even posting this, I feel more like I am talking to a vague "the Internet" rather than a collection of human beings with consciousness and agency and EVE accounts. However, I have to live somewhere, and the more bodies I can throw between myself and anything that threatens my home and family, the better. I don't know that having an identity makes someone a better meat shield.

Human Race

This is completely meaningless to me. Human lives are only worth anything to me personally if they are myself or family. I see everyone else as basically a soulless, expendable "thing", unless and until it reveals itself as useful or threatening to me. If the entire species just suddenly dropped dead one day, I don't think I'd really mind... especially if I am among the dead. No life = no mind = no cares.

First - Family. After all they brought you into the world.

Second - Nation, well I wouldn't be a very good member of Her Majesty's Armed Forces if this didn't rate pretty high.

Third - Self, well if this was any lower people would be asking "can I haz your stuff?"

Fourth - Human race. Well despite all the crap I am sure there is still some pretty awesome stuff to come. yeah....SCIENCE!

Fifth - Local community. Well I am based in the arse end of nowhere (cornwall) and by the standard of driving alone they don't deserve my liking. Plus taxi's are extortionate down here.